Morus nigra mulberry?

Looks like you have too many! I can help you out there! :innocent:
Those kinda look like cuttings to me. Too woody looking. But what do I know?

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The leaves do not look like any M. nigra I’ve ever seen.

Hi pileta…I would love a leaf for microscopic examination: First to see whether your leaf’s abaxial cell pattern is the same as Chriso’s; and second, to confirm Morus nigra (based on cell nucleus size). All I need is one leaf placed between moistened paper towel in a ziplock and mailed in an envelope. Please let me know if you’ll consider it.

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They start their second year and have a woody stem, yes.
I kept them inside for winter and they began leafing earlier.

The leaves are too small at the moment (about 2-3 cm/one inch). If You can wait, I think mature leaves will be more suitable for examination. Just remind me.

The beginning - April ’ 2016:

A Month and a half later:

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your study is very intriguing. Btw, are you based in europe/mediterranean region?

Yes, I am from Northwest Bulgaria (EU). The most interesting is that this big tree is unique in our region (too cold). Other nigra trees grow only in southern Bulgaria or near Black sea. Many people have made attempts to propagate this variety with no success, including specialists from the local Sericulture and Agriculture Experiment Station.
Here is two links (in bulgarian). You can use Google translate.

http://bnr.bg/vidin/post/100297930/110–godishnata-chernica-vyv-vraca-e-jiva

https://dariknews.bg/regioni/vraca/shte-opazim-li-stambolskata-chernica-556310

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Neat story. Surely someone out there has propagated it.

https://www.google.com/search?q=mulberry+serrated+leaf

thanks so much for posting. I am even more intrigued now! Your region probably has plenty of male nigra trees, and if not, then it is a good sign that nigras can be receptive to pollen of other morus species.
incidentally-- you report that the seedlings actually fruited. How old were they when they started doing so? Truly amazing that a nigra seedling which is quite capable of being productive for several centuries-- that it could also be fruitful at a very young age, considering that it is the exact scenario with most coventional drupes and pomes.

last but not least, were the berries similar in quality to typical nigra berries?

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Ditto. According to documents from Britain, seedling nigras usually take more than 7 years to reach maturity. And the fastest white mulberry seedling that I have seen fruited in the 3rd year.

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here in vegas, a mature nigra stem grafted onto alba seedling will produce berries earlier than 2 years, but the berries tend to get aborted at the red stage for three or more years.
conversely, quite curious if a nigra seedling stem grafted onto a mature/old(and at its prime) alba or nigra would be more precocious

if the nigra seedlings had alba parentage, that may explain the precocity reported by @pileta
the ‘old world’ has some of the oldest mulb trees, and being a great continuum of land from portugal all the way to china/korea and long history of agri-trade via silk route , it probably facilitated what @pileta is reporting now in bulgaria! And is main reason why was so curious about @pileta 's whereabouts…
here in north america, we seem to only have rubra as endemic species , and only relatively-recently imported nigras and albas

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In my opinion, your seedlings are not M. nigra.

Compare with this NCGR accession: https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail.aspx?id=1564317

Both the Moraceae family and the Morus genus are traceable back to Pangaea.

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In my opinion when he mentioned the fruits he was referring to the motherplant.

Stem and buds sure look like nigra. The leafs resemble them too. We have to take into consideration that he is showing seedlings. Leafs of the mature trees might look different.

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I did not say that.
I’m sorry if I misled You without wanting to. My english is far from exactness.
In brief: There is only one big fruiting morus nigra tree (about 120 years old) in my region. Neither femail nor male morus nigra tree occur here except this one. In 2015 I collect seeds from dropped fruits under this tree. After stratification some of them sprout in spring 2016 and I saw them in pots. In my first post I show these seedlings at present time. I didn’t expect them to start fruiting In the coming years :cry:. Maybe some of them are male. As I think crossing nigra with alba is impossible. Probably this nigra tree is self-fruitful at some degree.

Unfortunately I have not tasted nigra fruits yet.

I’m unable to find pictures there. Can You explain why You think my seedlings are not nigra?

@carrot: Thanks for mention buds.
Here is the close look of buds:

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They look like nigra to me.

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I still think you have too many. I have an extra Dwarf Everbearing mulberry. Talk about easy to root from cuttings, this thing grew from day one! I burned the leaves exposing to sun, but otherwise both are doing really well. I didn’t even want one of these, thrown in with some other mulberry cuttings. I’m glad Sam, a member her included them! What the heck, I’ll keep it in a pot. It used to be called a nigra, but I heard they now consider it another unknown species.

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For now I’ll keep them all to see wich one will overwinter, wich gender is each of them, wich is more dwarf etc. When they become bigger we can swap cuttings. I’m looking for Dwarf Everbearing and for Illinois Everbearing too.

Sounds like a plan, I can get cuttings of Illinois, I’ll look into it. I have some rooting, and they look good. A friend has a huge tree. Yes, please keep me in mind.
I want to add Sweet Lavender, Oscar, and Silk Hope. All should do well here.

me too.

Aren’t nigras supposed to have black buds? At one point, I read that the bud color is actually where the color names come from.